No Boot, But the Message is Pay Up

The town will hire a collections firm to go after almost $300,000 in owed tax, mostly on automobiles and much of which is years overdue.

But the town also has given the agency the instruction not to use the "boot" -- a device that disables a vehicle that some municipalities use on cars owned by people who owe back taxes. 

"We want to get the people who didn't pay their taxes and then moved out of town," said Chief Administrative Officer Curt Balzano Leng, "so we are turning it over to a private company."

A panel consisting of the town's purchsing agent, tax collector and Finance Director Kathleen Etkin interviewed five firms before chosing one.

"The methodology we agreed on is that they would use letters and telephone calls and that they do nothing without the town's permission," Etkin said. "We made it clear that we were not interested in pursing the boot."

There's a $270,000 line item in this year's budget that earmarks revenue from the collection effort, but that number might not be realistic, some say.

"It's difficult to say how much we will see -- every town is different so it is difficult to generalize," Etkin said. But whatever comes in after the current fiscal year ends will be used for next year's budget, she said.

Tax Collector Barbara Tito is very good at what she does, council president Jim Pascarella said.

"This town does a very good job and Barbara Tito in particular," he said, "which makes this more difficult."

"We have a jewel in the tax collector," council member Al Gorman agreed. "We are very proud of her."

If the full $270,000 isn't realized, the council will have to make adjustments to accommodate that, Gorman said.

"We don't have a crystal ball," he said, "we just want to make everyone aware of the fact that there will be a hole in the budget."

"Since this is the first time we have done this, it makes it difficult to estimate," Scholmaker said.

Leng said he is hoping that once people who owe back taxes hear of the effort, they'll pay up on their own.

"We are hoping once it hits the media people will realize what we're doing," he said, "and we will see an influx of payments."